PRODUCT EVALUATION CV SAVERS Like a suit of armor for your CV boots
Posted Date: 8/12/2012
Summary: 
q You probably don’t put much thought into your CV boots unless you spot a rip or tear in them. Worse yet, if you don’t notice the damage before the grease spills out or dirt gets into your joints, it might be too late to prevent a failure. A CV joint is one of the toughest things to repair on your quad and is one of the most important parts of your machine, so the bottom line is that you want to protect them.
Most manufacturers install puny plastic guards that bolt to the lower A-arms providing some protection from sticks and other protrusions. The aftermarket offers aluminum guards that provide a bit more security. However, until now, no one has offered a full 360 degrees of protection for your vulnerable rubber CV boots.
The product aimed to cure this problem that many 4X4 and UTV owners face is called CV Savers. At $200 for a set of eight protectors, CV Savers are not cheap. They are however cheap insurance if you consider the time and expense of replacing a damaged CV Joint.
Each saver is made of a puncture-resistant material (like Kevlar) that simply clamps over your stock rubber CV boot. The outside of the boot clamps directly to the hard CV joint using a stainless steel hose clamp. Since it is stainless steel, you won’t find the clamp rusting even in the wettest conditions. The side of the cover that goes over the axle shaft is left loose and should not collect water and debris.
The CV Savers easily wrap around all of your front and rear CV joints and stay in place with a thin stainless steel hose clamp. They collect a little debris, but clean out quickly by opening up the velcro seam.
CV SAVIOR
To try out the CV Savers, we ordered a set from the makers in Australia; the product arrived on our doorstep in under a week. CV Savers was actually developed by a team who was racing the Australasian Safari Series; this is the Down Under version of the Baja Desert Series. Our test machine was the Can-Am Outlander 800. On this model, the outside rear CV Savers only attach with 3M adhesive, as the CVs are somewhat surrounded by the rear trailing arm. The other six covers installed just as easily using the stainless clamps and velcro. The great thing about this product is that it can be used in conjuction with your stock, plastic or aluminum aftermarket CV guards. For this test, we left our aftermarket aluminum CV guards off of the machine, making the CV Savers more vulnerable.
To test the product, we had to ride through terrain we would normally try to avoid. The obstacles were mostly piles of dead branches, fields full of saplings and other dangerous obstacles. During the test, we were more worried about getting a flat tire. Luckily enough, we not only didn’t get a flat tire, we barely got a scratch on the CV Savers. The tough material that the product is made of simply deflected any sharp sticks that came toward them. With the small scratches that were left on the CV Savers, it was easy to tell that they were doing there job blocking objects from hitting the rubber CV boots. Another good thing is that even though one end of the CV Saver is left open, it didn’t seem to collect a lot of debris, like small rocks, dirt and small, broken sticks.
We have taken our Outlander 800 over the roughest terrain imaginable, and we have only had one CV boot failure. Now, we can mark any future failures off the list with the CV Savers installed.
CONCLUSION
The CV Savers do exactly what they say they do. The question is, do you need them? If you have replaced a boot or two in the past on your ATV, you know how much of a pain it is, and you will want the extra protection of a product like this. Some of you may rip a CV boot on every other ride, so CV Savers are just what you need. If you are one of these riders, contact CV Savers at www.cvsavers.com. q
The CV Savers are made out of a Kevlar-type material and are super puncture-resistant. If you have a quad with four-wheel drive or independent rear suspension, your CV joints and the boots that protect them need to be taken care of.
Category: Product Tests
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